Frederica, Delaware

Twas the Week After Christmas:  The end is near! Not your end (hopefully), but the year's end. What we need is a bridge that will carry us across the canyon and into 2017. The best bridge for the job is a covered bridge, and fortunately many of them are to be found in cemeteries. Barretts Chapel Cemetery. [2013]

Lancaster, Virginia

Twas the Week After Christmas:  The wreaths remain. They are evergreen and here for the winter. But, they are not your everyday evergreens. They capture Virginia's Tidewater perfectly. One is made of magnolia leaves and the other is adorned with oyster shells. St. Mary's Whitechapel Cemetery. [2016]

Chesapeake, Virginia

Twas the Week After Christmas:  Here's proof that Santa stops at cemeteries. But, it's the day after Christmas, and the boxes remain unopened. Maybe they get opened on Boxing Day, which is today! Chesapeake Memorial Gardens. [2012]

Brusly, Louisiana

Twas the Week Before Christmas:  "Merry Christmas Mom & Dad / Maw & Grandpa." Here is what we have become. We still try to make you proud of us. "We ❤ you and miss you." St. John the Baptist Catholic Cemetery. [2011]

Batesburg, South Carolina

Twas the Week Before Christmas:  This is how we imagine the Holy Family: Mary and Joseph as a young woman and an old man. If Mary were not in her early teens when she gave birth to Jesus, that would be a surprise since it was the custom at the time for women to marry young. As for Joseph, there seems to be little reason to think he was much older than Mary. Men married young, too. Joseph may have been a few years older than his bride, but not decades (as suggested by this figurine). Amick Grove Pentecostal Church Cemetery. [2016]

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Twas the Week Before Christmas: The location is Chattanooga, so what would you expect in the middle of the national cemetery there? A Chattanooga Choo Choo, of course. Buried here are Medal of Honor recipients. They participated in the "Great Locomotive Chase" during the Civil War. Chattanooga National Cemetery. [2013]

Frederick, Maryland

"In Hopes That St. Nicholas Soon Would Be There":  Little known fact: Santa Claus visits cemeteries, too. Although he packs some flowers for the adults in the neighborhood, he spends most of his time leaving love tokens for the children. Mount Olivet Cemetery. [2006]

Fredericksburg, Virginia

"In Hopes That St. Nicholas Soon Would Be There":  Little known fact: Santa Claus visits cemeteries, too. In his sleigh he carries signature likenesses of himself, plus Christmas posies, both perfect for bringing color to a season of drabness. Sunset Memorial Gardens. [2015]

Woodsboro, Maryland

"In Hopes That St. Nicholas Soon Would Be There":  Meet the concept of seasonal headstones. Sorry, "headwoods." Not only does this one bear all the marks of the Christmas season, it is made out of the perfect material for this particular place: wood for Woodsboro. Mt. Hope Cemetery. [2014]

Jefferson City, Missouri

Cemeteries as Museums of Telecommunications:  The Palm Pilot has a small niche in the history of telecommunication, but the niche is so small some of us have a hard time remembering what this even did! Anyone have a love affair with their Palm Pilot that they would like to share? Hawthorn Memorial Gardens. [2015]

Toms River, New Jersey

Cemeteries as Museums of Telecommunications:  Remember when the cordless telephone first appeared? Remember when it became mobile? Telecommunication technology made a major leap forward in the early 1990s and marketing followed suit. Of course, the early adopters were the young. St. Joseph's Catholic Cemetery. [2015]

Haines City, Florida

Cemeteries as Museums of Telecommunications:  Remember when telephones looked like this? Remember when they all were black? Are you old enough to recall what a party line was? Even as the artifacts disappear, their granite images will exist for all time on cemetery headstones. Forest Hill Cemetery. [2014]

Ripley, Ohio

Nicknames as Markers of Femininity:  Meet "Care Bear." She must have been in her 30s before she acquired her nickname. That's because the Care Bears didn't appear on the pop culture stage until the early 1980s. Maplewood Cemetery. [2014]